Troubleshooting: Red Bar Across the Bottom of the Dashboard

If you see a red bar across the bottom of your YAPI Dashboard, this indicates your workstation isn't able to connect with YAPI on your server, preventing YAPI from working properly. To troubleshoot, follow the steps below.

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Note: This article is about a red bar appearing at the bottom of the Dashboard. If a red bar appears at the top of the Dashboard, see Red Bar Across the Top of the Dashboard instead.

Table of Contents

 

Step 1: Determining Which Workstations Are Affected

How many workstations are affected determines how you'll troubleshoot next, so you need to find out if the red bar is appearing on all your workstations or not.  Open YAPI on each workstation at your practice and wait one minute.  (You don't need to wait if YAPI was already open.)

  • If YAPI has a red bar at the bottom on ALL WORKSTATIONS: Proceed withe the troubleshooting steps below on your server computer.

  • If YAPI has a red bar at the bottom on ONE OR A FEW WORKSTATIONS: Proceed with the troubleshooting steps below on each affected computer.

 

Step 2: Checking the Computer's Internet Connection

YAPI needs a strong, consistent, private internet connection to work properly and if your workstation or server computer isn't connected, this prevents YAPI from communicating across your practice.  To check your internet connection:

  1. Locate the Windows Task Tray in the lower right-hand corner of the computer's desktop.

  2. Click the Network icon Screen_Shot_2022-06-17_at_10.38.34_AM.png.

    • If you see "Connected": Your internet connection is not the issue.  Proceed directly to Step 3: Checking Your Network Interface Card (NIC) below.

      Screen_Shot_2022-06-17_at_10.26.39_AM_2.png

    • If you see "No Internet" for every network listed: There is an issue with your internet connection.  Proceed to the next step.

      Screen_Shot_2022-06-17_at_10.26.39_AM_2_2_2.png

  3. Next, right-click on the Network icon Screen_Shot_2022-06-17_at_10.38.34_AM.png and select Troubleshoot Problems:

    Screen_Shot_2022-06-21_at_9.47.02_AM.png

    When the Windows Network Diagnostic window opens, allow it to run and follow the prompts to see if you can fix the connection error:

    Screen_Shot_2022-06-21_at_9.47.14_AM.png

    If Windows Network Diagnostics is able to fix the problem and you no longer see a yellow triangle on the network icon Screen_Shot_2022-06-17_at_10.38.34_AM.png, proceed to the next step.  If not, contact your practice's IT as they'll need to diagnose your internet connection issue.

  4. Try opening YAPI again and waiting 2 minutes.

    • If the red bar DOESN'T APPEAR: You can stop here!  You've fixed the issue.

    • If the red bar APPEARS AGAIN (even after a couple minutes): Proceed to the next step.

  5. Click the Network icon Screen_Shot_2022-06-17_at_10.38.34_AM.png again and select Network & Internet Settings.  In the Settings window that opens, check whether your Network Status is listed Public or Private:

    • If the network is set to PRIVATE: Your internet connection is not the issue.  Proceed directly to Step 3: Checking Your Network Interface Card (NIC) below.

      Screen_Shot_2022-06-21_at_10.14.36_AM_2.png

    • If the network is set to PUBLIC: This may be the issue.  YAPI needs a private internet connection to work properly across your practice.  Proceed to the next step.

      image__4__2_2.png

  6. Click Connection Properties and set the network to Private: 

    Screen_Shot_2022-06-21_at_10.43.32_AM.png

    Note: If you're unable to click Connection Properties or see a message that these settings are controlled by an administrator, contact your IT or whoever set up this network in your practice.
  7. Try starting YAPI again and waiting 2 minutes.

 

Step 3: Checking Your Network Interface Card (NIC) 

Warning! This step is best handled by your IT professional.  We strongly recommend contacting your IT and sending them this article to have them complete the steps below.

If your practice is set up to use NIC Teaming but doesn't have a static media access control (MAC) address, this can prevent YAPI from connecting with your practice network.   To determine if this is what's causing the issue and, if so, set up a static MAC address:

  1. On your practice's server, double-click the YAPIService Manager icon on the desktop: 

    Screen_Shot_2022-06-21_at_11.29.03_AM_2.png

  2. In the YAPI Service Manager window, click Stop Service.  Then click Configure:

    Screen_Shot_2022-06-21_at_11.29.48_AM_2.png

    • If the Configure Service window loads WITHOUT AN ERROR MESSAGE: The NIC is not the causing the connectivity issue.  Proceed directly to Step 4: Checking Your DNS Settings.

    • If an ERROR MESSAGE APPEARS: Click OK

      image__4__copy_2_2.png

      This error indicates that your practice is using NIC Teaming and the server's IP Address is changing each time it reboots. To fix this, proceed to the next step.

  3. In the Configure Service window, select a different card from the dropdown and click Proceed:

    image__4__copy_3_2_2.png

    This creates a temporary fix so that your practice can use YAPI while you're completing the next steps.

  4. Next, locate the MAC address being used for your practice's teamed NIC:

    1. Open a command prompt and run ipconfig/all.

    2. Locate the number listed next to Physical Address and write this number down. This is the MAC address currently being used by your Teamed NIC:

      unnamed__2__2.png

  5. Now, set your MAC address to static:

    1. Open the Windows Device Manager

    2. Toggle open the list of Network Adapters, right-click Hyper-V Virtual Ethernet Adapter, and select Properties:

      unnamed__1__2.png

    3. Click the Advanced tab and under Property, select Network Address.

      unnamed_2.png

    4. Under Value, enter the MAC address you wrote down in the previous step without dashes:

      unnamed_3.png

    5. Click OK.

  6. Back in the YAPI Service Manager window, click Start Service and wait one minute:

    Screen_Shot_2022-06-21_at_11.29.48_AM_3.png

  7. Open the YAPI Dashboard and wait 2 minutes:

Why use a static MAC address for your Teamed NIC? NIC Teaming works by combining two physical NIC cards into one virtual card.  Each time the server reboots, it selects its MAC address from whichever card just happens to become active first.  This means the network ends up with one of two possible MAC addresses, simply depending on how the system booted up that day.  Unfortunately, YAPI can only recognize one.  Setting a static MAC address ensures that YAPI always sees the same one and can properly connect with your network every time.

 

Step 4: Checking Your DNS Settings

Warning!  This step is best handled by your IT professional.  We strongly recommend contacting your IT and sending them this article to have them complete the steps below.

If you've configured a local DNS server at your practice that all of the workstations are pointing to, YAPI may have a problem connecting across your network if the DNS server can't resolve YAPI's hostname, http://yapi.me/.  To fix this issue:

  1. Point the computer to one or both of the following addresses:

    • Preferred DNS Server: 8.8.8.8
    • Alternate DNS Server: 8.8.4.4 (optional but recommended)

    image__5__2.png

    Note: If you're reconfiguring DNS settings on individual workstations, we recommend that you use both addresses to ensure the most reliable configuration possible.
  2. Click OK, then Close.

  3. Open YAPI on an affected workstation and wait 2 minutes.
    • If the red bar DOESN'T APPEAR: Great!  You've fixed the issue.
    • If the red bar DOES APPEAR: Contact our Customer Support team and ask to be connected with Technical Support.
Why use these addresses? These are Google's public and free DNS servers and have proven to be faster and more reliable than local DNS servers when we've worked on these issues with YAPI users.  

 

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